Various devices of this general type have been proposed for aerating a body of water and have been used with some degree of success. These prior art devices have had certain shortcomings, however, such as the inability to sufficiently aerate the water due to the fact that the water was not thoroughly agitated, or due to the fact that sufficient air was not provided for being entrained in the water. Another shortcoming of certain prior art devices was the fact that the water was not handled continuously or as a body but rather was dispersed or atomized to a point where the individual particles of water cooled to a point where freezing thereof occurred; this shortcoming occurs particularly in cold climates where the device is located in an open hole in an otherwise frozen body of water, and care must be exercised so that the water being aerated does not, in itself, freeze.